Origin Stories, Favorites, and Filming with Cats - Captain Marvel Stars [CC]

What relationship did you have to this character and these stories before the film? Well, I signed on to this, like, I think it's been three years now, so I've had quite a bit of time to kind of delve into this. I read Wonder Woman comics when I was younger. I love mythology, so the idea of, oh, and Sailor Moon, too. I keep remembering that I used to watch Sailor Moon, like, every day when I got home from school. So that story of, like, a female protagonist that's sort of unfolding before you and is going through different trials and tribulations, struggling with the internal as well as external, saving the world and saving herself, all of that stuff was always really exciting to me. And so to have, like, that three years of time leading up to this gave me a lot of time to kind of dig into this in various ways to find her. Well, I grew up kind of watching these films, and I'd always enjoyed them, never expected that I would be in one of them. But was really excited to be asked to be in the first female-led Marvel film. That was the big appeal for me, to work with Brie. To Marvel stories, I had a close relationship because I'm a Marvel fan. To, like, strong, empowered women stories, I felt like I grew up with strong and empowered women. I come from a long line of women who are in charge of themselves, so that's good. But this, though, is different. This I don't think I've ever seen before, and I don't think it's the last of it. I think that some people might see it as a moment in cinema, whereas I see this as, like, a continuous movement that's going to be happening. So, not seen it before, we'll get used to it because I'm absolutely going to be here for it for the rest of my life. How did you decide how to work in sort of setting up and choosing and combining backstories? We got excited about telling an origin story. Us and the people at Marvel both wanted to tell an origin story that wasn't your standard kind of meet a human, see an event happen, this is how they get their superpowers kind of story. So, we meet Captain Marvel when she's already superpowered. She's already this amazing space warrior. But what she doesn't know is her past and how she became that way. And so, we are able to kind of go on this mystery journey with her as she discovers who she used to be, and along the way gets to meet a young Samuel L. Jackson who has never met aliens before, never met superpowered beings before. And so, in a way, it also becomes his origin story as well. What was it like to get to go back to a character's beginning after you've been playing them for so long? Not quite sure. We, at the beginning, kind of caught them in the middle. You know, Nick has this war history that we don't know about or haven't experienced with him. And we definitely haven't experienced him in the shadow world of spying. So, we kind of catch him in the middle of a desk job where he's kind of bored trying to figure out what's going on. And all of a sudden, something exciting happens. And he has an opportunity to, you know, meet somebody and explore some stuff. And like I said, meet his first extraterrestrial. What was your favorite part of the shoot? Favorite part of the shoot was actually the last two weeks of the shoot, when it was like all Maria stuff. Because it felt like we were almost like in a little indie movie within the Marvel world, which was really, really cool. Got to work with Akira, who plays Monica closely. Me and Bri had those emotional scenes that you see in the movie. It felt just like we'd gone on this big adventure, and now we come back home to be like, really like drama-filled and quite emotional, which I enjoy. So, yeah, it's just a great blend of things, man. You know, it's special, for sure. You know, I love Louisiana so much that by the time we went to Maria's house and shot down there, yeah, that was my favorite thing. Just being down there when it was hot and the cane was growing and it was nice at night. Being down there was my favorite thing. The chunk of the movie that takes place in Louisiana was my favorite. You know, I think the heart of the movie lies in that section of the film, and it's funny because it's not the section of the movie with big explosions or big action sequences. It's really the actors that drive that section of the movie, and that's what I love about it. Are you a cat person? No, I am not. But I'm not a dog, bird, or fish person, either. What was it like shooting with a cat? Most days, okay. You know, we had like four different cats, but the one that did the majority of the work was Reggie. And the handlers taught us, you know, they're all snack-based. You know, you give them a snack, you talk nice to them, you give them another snack. Isn't that what actors are like, too? Well, checks. Give us a check, you talk nice to us, you give us another check. We're kind of okay to work with. You worked with, this movie has both kids and animals. What was that like? I didn't have to, oh, did I work with any kids? A little bit. Do you know what, the cat was so well-trained. It was a complete pro, and the cat got so much respect. I think the cat got more respect than from, than Samuel L. Jackson on set. Like, when the cat was on set, he was like, shh, you've got to be quiet. The cat has a silk pillow in its room, I'm just letting you know. Yeah, the cat got all the special treatment. Are you a cat person? I'm more of a dog person, to be honest.